A nearly sold-out audience witnessed the man also known as “Black Moses” give a classic performance, offering a variety of hits that made him a household name in many American homes in the socially conscious days of the early 1970s.

The acoustically rich confines of Heinz Hall provided a perfect ambiance required to embody the soulful talents of Mr. Hayes as the world-class symphonic strings, horns and rhythms collectively known as the Pittsburgh Symphony, accompanied him.

The show began promptly at 8 p.m. and was led by resident symphony conductor, Lawrence Loh, who introduced to many of the non-classical music buffs in the house a series of brief symphonic pieces generally tied to composers such as Beethoven and Bach.

The lovely Danielle Belen Nesmith was a highlight during her solo violin performance, which generated tremendous response from the more than 2500 people who attended the performance.

After a brief intermission, exactly one hour later, Isaac’s rhythm section and vocal background trio took the stage and kicked-off into an up-tempo version of one of his disco-era hits, “Don’t Let Go.” As he came on stage to a rousing ovation, Ike, dressed in a black silk, body-long, one-piece Dashiki, walked slowly and was helped to the piano by a young woman.

Although his health issues have not been widely reported, it was later learned by sources close to the iconic entertainer that he had a stroke two years ago.  It was obvious that night that the stroke has affected his movements and even his piano technique. At one point, it was obvious that he forgot a lyric, but was able to rectify it by creating another line that fit appropriately enough.

Health issues aside, the show remains one of the epic performances to hit a Pittsburgh stage in many moons.

Isaac Lee Hayes Jr., who turns 66 on Aug. 20, performed some of his biggest hits and surprisingly to this reviewer, he did not limit his playlist to his more commercial releases.

Following a funky version of 1979’s “Joy,” he delved into the stellar album-oriented, 12-plus minute songs that made his many LPs offerings so popular in the 1970s.

Tunes like “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” and the epic    heartbreak love-song and Dionne Warwick cover, “Walk On By” and the Clifton Davis-composed, “Never Can Say Goodbye.”

Another crowd-pleaser was his rendition of Jerry Butler’s “I Stand Accused.” On this one, he stayed true to his original recording by offering a short version of “Ike’s Rap,” the outpouring of verbal love potions he provided to young male record buyers back in the day who hoped to ingest just a tad of Ike’s cool verbiage to pour on some young woman, of course—back in the day.

But on this night, Isaac, the Grammy, Golden Globe and Oscar recipient, wooed the crowd with his continued star quality.

The man whose career started as a writer and producer for Memphis-based Stax Records, still lives in his beloved city. His musical conductor that night was a fellow Memphis dweller, Lester Snell, who is noted as one of the creators of the Al Green sound. Snell’s organ work is the cornerstone on many of Green’s string of ’70s hits.

Critically speaking, at times the symphony’s sound was inaudible. Production-wise, there could’ve been problems with public address, microphones and speaker systems.

Specifically, the strings, brass, horns and background vocals could’ve and should’ve been louder.

The Hayes performance ended with an outstanding and exciting version of his 1971 hit, “Shaft,” the song that garnered him an Academy Award.

The musical arrangement, as expected, was unique from the original recording, although its integrity remained true to the original sound, and even had the audience chanting “John Shaft” when it was their time to sing a lyric.

Atlanta-based Rhonda Thomas led the background trio of a male and two ladies. Remarkably, they provided the authentic background work that was ever so key to Isaac’s original recordings, sung by Hot Buttered Soul, a female backup group.  

Also, the guitarist, bassist, drummer, percussionist and two electronic keyboardists, did their proverbial things.

Backstage, Thomas, an 11-year member of the Hayes band, sold copies of her solo CD,  “Breathe New Life.” Hayes has endorsed the record.

My advice, if you get a chance to witness Isaac Hayes in concert, goes for it.  He’s a rare essence of an iconic music legend who makes his presence felt only once in a lifetime. And once the Isaac Hayes’ are gone, it’s a noticeable void.

Long live Isaac Hayes!

 (EDITOR’S  NOTE: The Isaac Hayes concert was part of a continuing series of fund-raising performances in collaboration between 50 Pittsburgh area nonprofit agencies and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The fifth annual Community Partners Program combines diverse artists with the symphony, while building new and diverse constituencies within the Heinz Hall and symphony marketplace—ultimately, better reflecting the diverse audiences that the orchestra serves in the tri-state area. Since its 2004 inception, Community Partners concerts have raised $300,000 for partnering nonprofit groups. The New Pittsburgh Courier was a media sponsor of the show.)